


Salt in the Wound

by Ka5hew



Category: Daredevil (TV), The Punisher (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Fratt Week 2020, M/M, Post-Break Up
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:08:19
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,314
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24457963
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ka5hew/pseuds/Ka5hew
Summary: Months after they break up, Frank finds himself on Matt’s couch again.
Relationships: Frank Castle/Matt Murdock
Comments: 6
Kudos: 38
Collections: Fratt Week





	Salt in the Wound

**Author's Note:**

> This is for day 6: fire

> The smoke climbed up his throat like a monster clawing it’s way into his lungs, nestling in them, filling them up. 
> 
> Black.
> 
> Black smoke.
> 
> It clouded his view and mind, kicking out all logic, common sense, and the ability to do anything.
> 
> Fire danced around him; red, orange, yellow. The colours seared his skin. 
> 
> The fire was hot, but it felt like ice on his skin, so cold, so much pain, that his smoke filled brain shut down completely and his mouth opened wide, releasing a scream that was lost in the roaring of the flames. 
> 
> He didn’t register when a hand grabbed his arms, or when he was dragged out of the smoke filled nightmare, away from the flickering colours that had branded his skin. 
> 
> He didn’t register when the same gloved hands shook his shoulders, crying his name in desperation. 
> 
> “ _Frank_!” 
> 
> He was out of the flames, but he was still surrounded by fire. 
> 
> *-*-*
> 
> Waking up on Matt’s couch covered in bandages was a familiar experience for Frank, but it all still hurt the same. 
> 
> He had no idea how long he had been out for, but he knew he needed to leave. He couldn’t stay here, not at Matt’s place, not after everything that had happened between them. 
> 
> The apartment brought back all the memories he had been trying to keep out. Even the minor, insignificant little things: the nights spent cooking together in the kitchen, and the dinners he made where Matt would try to guess the ingredients with those stupidly amazing senses of his; the quieter evenings in the bedroom with Matt laying his head directly across Frank’s heart, lulled to sleep by his heartbeat; shared nights on the rooftops, taking in the cold air with Matt’s warm hand in his. So warm. So very warm. 
> 
> And then he remembered why he left. Because that warm hand had turned into warm blood staining his heart, mind and soul. 
> 
> Matt’s warm blood. 
> 
> Spilled by Matt’s recklessness and self destruction. 
> 
> Slowly and painfully, he got up off the couch only to fall back onto it. Fire. Burns. Now he remembered. His entire torso felt like one giant blister and looking down at his arms, he could see patches of red peaking out from under the bandages. 
> 
> “Sh*t”
> 
> “I’d say so, yeah”
> 
> Whipping his head around, Frank was faced with a sight he was once fond of... was  still fond of. 
> 
> Matt wasn’t wearing his suit, instead, he was walking around bare footed in just a t-shirt and track suits. His hair was ruffled and he was wearing his glasses. 
> 
> Frank had grown used to seeing Matt without his glasses, instead seeing the hazel eyes hidden beneath them. It was a sort of intimacy he didn’t know he used to have until now. 
> 
> God, how he missed those eyes.
> 
> “Matt” and oh how he sounded so  pathetic . Frank rarely used Matt’s proper name, even when they were dating. It was usually “Red” or “Murdock”. “Matt” was saved for those precious moments, those quiet nights, when the streets of Hell’s Kitchen were silent, and the only sounds were the other mans breathing. 
> 
> “I patched up the burns as best as I could, it’ll take a while to heal and you have some blisters on your arms but you should be up and running in a day or two.” Matt explained, turning away from Frank as he headed to the kitchen to fill a glass of water. 
> 
> His face was hidden, but Frank could tell Matt was tiring his hardest to keep calm, to look unaffected by Frank’s presence. To look like he couldn’t hear the heartbeat he once loved pounding in his ears. To look like Frank had never happened, never mattered to him. 
> 
> Frank could tell. 
> 
> And it ignited the spark in him that had been killed when he woke up in that dreaded apartment. It burned away the  weak, _pathetic_ tone he had moments ago. 
> 
> Matt was clinging to a facade and Frank was desperate to shatter it. 
> 
> “You really think I’m gonna stay here, Red? You really think you can make me?” He said, his anger rising. 
> 
> “No. But you need to heal, and I’m not gonna stop trying to help you until you are.” 
> 
> “You’re a goddamn hypocrite, you know that Murdock? Spewing bullsh*t ‘bout needing to heal when you jump into every fire you see and don’t rest for a  even a second .”
> 
> “Any yet I’m not the one covered in burns” the asshole was right. Matt wasn’t covered in burns. But he had definitely jumped into that fire after him, how else did he get out of it? So how was he not burnt? 
> 
> Then came Matt’s reply, almost as if he read Frank’s mind. 
> 
> “Someone gave me a bulletproof proof vest once. It happens to also be fire proof. I thought it was time u started using it again.” 
> 
> The vest. The  _goddamn_ vest.  Matt was using it again. What the hell did that mean? Frank tried not to overthink it but he couldn’t help but stare in confusion. 
> 
> Was this an apology? Or just Matt’s way of rubbing salt in the wound? 
> 
> “The hell you playing at Red? You tryin’ to mess with me? You think I see you givin’ a sh*t and I’m gonna come crawling back?”
> 
> “What? No, Frank-“ 
> 
> “See you takin’ a break from being the worlds most  _stubborn_ piece of sh*t  _martyr_ and I’m gonna come back begging? I told you I couldn’t keep givin’ a sh*t, Red, and I meant it.” Frank could hear his voice failing him at the last few words, and he hoped Matt couldn’t hear his heart point out the lie in them. But he wouldn’t let himself think about that. He knew he had fallen in deep, and he knew he was stuck there. 
> 
> But he said what he said more for himself. Because he couldn’t let himself think there was a chance, couldn’t give himself false hope. 
> 
> “No - Frank. Please. Listen to me.” Frank listened. He told himself it was because he wanted to show he was better than Matt and that  he actually listened to people, but he knew it was because he couldn’t bring himself to reply.
> 
> “I didn’t - I didn’t mean it like that. I don’t... expect you to, to come begging or anything, I just-“ he went quiet again, but Frank waited. 
> 
> “I just- I know I was  reckless , and  stupid , and  stubborn , but I trying, Frank. I’m trying to be more careful, and... and I can’t keep staying up all night wondering if you’re still alive or not.” 
> 
> When Frank didn’t reply, Matt shifted and hesitantly stepped closer. “I’m not asking for forgiveness, or for things to go back to the way they were, but just, let me know you’re okay, let me help when you’re not, cuz I can’t keep doing this, Frank.” 
> 
> It was a weird feeling of relief that hit him. Matt was still Matt; stupid, stubborn and beautiful. But Frank saw the speck of difference in the relentless determination that drove him. It wasn’t wild and uncoordinated anymore. It was controlled, proof that he would back away if asked, however hard me may find it. 
> 
> But Frank knew Matt couldn’t back away, just how Matt knew Frank wouldn’t ever stop killing. And yet he was still there, asking for Frank, because  he couldn’t keep doing this. 
> 
> And Frank realised that he couldn’t either. He had tired, for  so many moths . But he couldn’t. 
> 
> “Yeah...” he answered softly. “Yeah, okay, Red.” And Matt smiled that warm subtle smile as he got to work on checking Frank’s bandages.
> 
> Matt didn’t expect things to go back to before, and Frank didn’t think they would either, but Matt’s life was like being surrounded by fire, and Frank was willing to burn there with him. 

**Author's Note:**

> I feel like there should be a lot more context for this but my brain refuses to give me any so I guess this is it :/ hope u enjoyed :)


End file.
